Wizard's First Rule (63 page)

While the Queen and her ministers talked about some kind of alliance, Rachel sat jiggling her legs, knocking her knees together, thinking about her trouble doll. The wizard stood behind and to the right of the Queen, offering his advice when asked. He looked grand in his silver robes. She had never paid much attention to Giller before; he had just been another one of the Queen’s important people, always there with her, like her little dog. People were afraid of him, too, the way she was afraid of the dog. Now, as she watched him, he seemed like just about the nicest man she had ever seen.

He ignored her through the whole dinner, never once looking her way. Rachel figured he didn’t want to draw attention to her, and make the Princess mad. That was a good idea. Princess Violet would be cross if she knew Giller had said he thought Rachel’s name was pretty. The Queen’s long hair hung down behind her fancy carved chair, shaking in waves when her important people talked to her and she nodded her head.

When the meal was finished, servers rolled out a cart with the crock she had seen the cooks mixing. Goblets were filled from a ladle and carried to all the guests. Everyone seemed to think it was pretty important.

The Queen stood, holding her goblet in the air, and the little dog in her other arm. “Lords and ladies, I present you with the drink of enlightenment, that we may see the truth. This is a very precious commodity; few are offered the opportunity of enlightenment. I have availed myself of it many times, of course, that I might see the truth, the way of Father Rahl, in order to lead my people to the common good. Drink up.”

Some people looked like they didn’t want to, but only for a minute. Then they all drank. The Queen drank, after she saw that everyone else had, then sat back down with a funny look on her face. She leaned to a server, whispering. Rachel started to get worried; the Queen was frowning. When the Queen frowned, people got their heads chopped off.

The tall cook came out, smiling. The Queen motioned to him with her finger hooked, to lean closer. There was sweat on his forehead. Rachel guessed it was because the kitchen was so hot. She was sitting behind the Princess, who sat at the left arm of the Queen, so she could hear them talking.

“This does not taste the same,” she said in her mean voice. She didn’t always talk in her mean voice, but when she did, people got scared.

“Ah, well, Your Majesty, you see, in truth, uh, well, it’s not, you see. Not the same, that is.” Her eyebrows lifted and he talked faster. “You see, uh, in truth, well, I knew this was a very important dinner. Yes, I knew, you see, that you wouldn’t want anything to go wrong. You see. Wouldn’t want anyone to fail to be enlightened, to fail to see your brilliance, about all this, uh, business, so, you see, well,” he leaned a little closer and lowered his voice to speak confidentially, “so I took the liberty of making the drink of enlightenment stronger. Much stronger, actually, you see. So no one would fail to see the lightness of what you say. I assure you, Your Majesty, it is so strong, no one will fail to be enlightened.”

He leaned even closer, lowered his voice even more. “In fact. Your Majesty, it is so strong that anyone who fails to be enlightened, and opposes you after drinking it, well, they could only be a traitor.”

“Really.” the Queen whispered in surprise. “Well, I thought it was stronger.”

“Very perceptive, Your Majesty, very perceptive. You have a very refined palate. I knew I wouldn’t be able to fool you.”

“Indeed. But are you sure it isn’t too powerful? I can feel the enlightenment sweeping through me already.”

“Your Majesty,” his eyes shifted among the guests. “Where your mandate is concerned, I feared to make it any weaker.” His eyebrows lifted up. “Lest any traitor go unfound.”

She smiled at last, and nodded. “You are a wise and loyal cook. From now on, I put you, exclusively, in charge of the drink of enlightenment.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty.”

He bowed a bunch of times and left. Rachel was glad he didn’t get in trouble.

“Lords and ladies, a special treat. Tonight, I had the cook prepare the drink of enlightenment extra strong, so none loyal to their queen could fail to see the wisdom of Father Rahl’s ways.”

The people all smiled and nodded how pleased they were about this. Some told how they could already feel the special insights the drink was giving them.

“A special treat, lords and ladies, for your entertainment.” She snapped her fingers. “Bring in the fool.”

Guards brought in a man, and made him stand in the center of the room, directly in front of the Queen, all the tables around him. He was big and strong-looking, but he was bound with chains. The Queen leaned forward.

“We here have all agreed that an alliance with our ally, Darken Rahl, will bring great benefits to all our people, that we all will profit, together. That the little people, the workers, the farmers, will benefit the most. That they will be freed from the oppression of those who would only exploit them for profit, for gold, for greed. That from now on, we all will be working for the common good, not individual goals.” The Queen frowned. “Please tell all these ignorant lords and ladies”—she swept her hand around the room—“how it is that you are smarter than they, and why you should be allowed to work only for yourself, instead of your fellow man.”

The man had an angry look on his face. Rachel wished he would change it, before he got in trouble.

“The common good,” he said, sweeping his hand around the room like the Queen had done, except his hands had chains on them. “This is what you call the common good? All you fine people look to be enjoying the good food, the warm fire. My children go hungry tonight because most of our crops have been taken, for the common good, for those who have decided not to bother to work, but to eat the fruit of my labor instead.”

The people laughed.

“And you would deny them food, simply because you are fortunate that your crops grew better?” the Queen asked. “You are a selfish man.”

“Their crops would grow better if they would plant seeds in the ground first.”

“And so you have so little care for your fellow man, that you therefore would condemn them to starve?”

“My family starves! To feed others, to feed Rahl’s army. To feed you fine lords and ladies, who do nothing but discuss and decide what to do with my crop, how to divide the product of my labor among others.”

Rachel wished the man would keep still. He was going to get his head chopped off. The people and the Queen thought he was funny, though.

“And my family goes cold,” he said, and his face looked even more angry, “because we aren’t allowed to have fire.” He pointed at a few of the fireplaces. “But here there is fire, to warm the people who tell me we are all equal now, how there will no longer be some put before others and I must therefore not be allowed to keep what is mine. Isn’t it odd, that the people who tell me how we are to all be the same under the alliance with Darken Rahl and do no work other than to divide up the fruit of my labors, are all well fed, and warm, and have fine clothes on their backs. But my family goes hungry and cold.”

Everyone laughed. Rachel didn’t laugh. She knew what it was like to be hungry, and cold.

“Lords and ladies,” the Queen said, with a chuckle, “did I not promise you royal entertainment? The drink of enlightenment lets us see what a selfish fool this man truly is. Just think, he actually believes it is right to profit while others starve. He would put his profit above the lives of his fellow man. For his greed, he would murder the hungry.”

Everyone laughed with the Queen.

The Queen smacked her hand down on the table. Plates jumped and a few glasses fell over, spilling a red stain across the white tablecloth. Everyone fell quiet, except the little dog, who barked at the man. “This is the kind of greed that will be ended, when the People’s Peace Army comes to help rid us of these human leeches that suck us all dry!” The Queen’s round face was as red as the stains on the tablecloth.

Everyone cheered and clapped for a long time. The Queen sat back, smiling at last.

The man’s face was as red as hers. “Odd, isn’t it, now that all the farmers, the workers in town, are all working for the common good, that there isn’t enough good to go around, like there used to be, or enough food.”

The Queen jumped to her feet. “Of course not!” she shouted. “Because of greedy people like you!” She took some deep breaths, till her face wasn’t quite so red, then turned to the Princess. “Violet dear, you must learn matters of state sooner or later. You must learn how to serve the public good for all our people. Therefore, I will put this matter in your hands, so you may gain experience. What would you do with this traitor to our people? You choose, dear, and it will be done.”

Princess Violet stood. Smiling, she looked around at the people.

“I say,” she said, as she leaned forward a little, across the table, to look at the big man in chains, “I say, off with his head!”

Everyone cheered and clapped again. Guards dragged the man away as he called them names Rachel didn’t understand. She was sad for him, and for his family.

After the assembled crowd talked for a while longer, they all decided to go
watch the man get his head chopped off. When the Queen left and Princess Violet turned to her and said it was time to go watch, Rachel stood up in front of her with fists at her side.

“You’re really mean. You’re really mean to say to chop off that man’s head.”

The Princess put her hands on her hips. “Is that so? Well you can just spend the night outside tonight!”

“But Princess Violet, it’s so cold out tonight!”

“Well, while you’re freezing you can just think about how you dared speak to me in that tone! And so you remember the next time, you are to stay out all day tomorrow, and tomorrow night, too!” Her face looked mean, like the Queen’s did sometimes. “That should teach you some respect.”

Rachel started to say something else; then she remembered the trouble doll, and that she wanted to go out. The Princess pointed at the archway toward the door.

“Go on. Right now, with no supper.” She stomped her foot.

Rachel looked at the ground, to pretend she was sad. “Yes, Princess Violet,” she said, as she curtsied.

She walked with her head down, through the archway and down the big hall with all the rugs hung on the high walls. She liked to look at the pictures on the rugs, but she kept her head down this time, in case the Princess was watching; she didn’t want to look happy about being put out. Guards, wearing shiny armor breastplates and swords and holding pikes, opened the great, tall, iron doors for her without saying anything. They never said anything to her when they let her out, or when they let her back in. They knew she was the Princess’s playmate: a nobody.

When she got outside, she tried not to walk too fast, in case anyone was watching. The stone was as cold as ice on her bare feet. Carefully, and with each hand under the other armpit to keep her fingers warm, she went down the wide steps and terraces, taking them one at a time so she wouldn’t fall, at last reaching the cobblestone walk at the bottom. More guards patrolled outside, but they ignored her. They saw her all the time. The closer she got to the gardens, the faster she walked.

Rachel slowed on the main garden path, waited until the guards’ backs were turned. The trouble doll was right where Giller had said it would be. She put the fire stick in her pocket, then hugged the doll to her as tight as she could before hiding it behind her back. She whispered to it, a warning to be still: She couldn’t wait to get to her wayward pine so she could tell the doll how mean Princess Violet was to have that man’s head chopped off. She looked around in the darkness.

There was no one watching, no one to see her take the doll. At the outer wall, more men were patrolling the high walks, and the Queen’s guards were at the gate, standing stiffly in their armor. They wore their fancy uniforms over the armor, sleeveless red tunics with the Queen’s mark, a black wolf’s head, emblazoned in the center. As they lifted the heavy iron bar and two of them pulled the squeaky door open for her, they didn’t even look to see what she had behind her back. When she heard the clang of the bar dropping back in place, and turned around to see the backs of the guards on the wall, then at last she smiled and started to run; it was a long way.

In a high tower, dark eyes watched her go. Watched her pass through the heavy
guard without raising the slightest suspicion, or interest, like a breath through fangs, through the outer wall garden gate that had kept determined armies out, and traitors in, watched her cross the bridge where hundreds of foes had died in battle, yet failed to gain, watched her run across the fields, barefoot, unarmed, innocent, and into the forest. To her secret place.

Furious, Zedd slapped his hand to the cold metal plate. The massive stone door slowly grated closed. He had to step over the bodies of D’Haran guards as he walked to the low wall. His fingers came to rest on the familiar, smooth stone as he leaned forward, looking out over the sleeping city below.

From this high wall on the mountainside, the city looked peaceful enough. But he had already slipped through the darkened streets and seen the troops everywhere. Troops that were there at the cost of many lives, on both sides.